Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

From the Minister's statement it is clear that he has no notion about the cost of this office. He is disingenuous again today in saying he has no idea of the ballpark figure for this new office because the local authorities in Dublin have been briefed by the Department on the potential cost. I have access to documentation from Fingal County Council indicating that this office will cost €8 million over five years and that €1.6 million will need to be provided in its estimates based on the Minister's decision to proceed with this office immediately. This cost will ultimately need to be borne by the small business sector, the business sector generally and the consumers of services in those local authorities given that the Minister has just said it will need to be funded from existing resources.

While there is no difficulty with the principle of the Bill, I ask the Minister to postpone it until 2014 when the local government elections will be held and then let us have a directly elected mayor for Dublin in the context of overall reform of the existing structures. The Minister is satisfied to leave 133 councillors in four local authorities in place along with four county managers and an overarching regional authority with a directly elected mayor of Dublin at a cost of €8 million over five years. In these critical economic times for businesses and consumers, I ask the Minister to postpone this until 2014.

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